I went into the kitchen and found Lucy, dressed in jeans and a jumper, making a fry-up.
“Ooh, is it Saturday already?” It was a weekend treat, she liked to remind me, to make a big breakfast, even if she was working. Today, both of us were off.
She jumped and sighed as she looked at me. “You seriously have to stop sneaking up on me like that. I’m going to get a bell put on you, I swear.”
I shrugged. “I’d put my squeaky shoes on if you hadn’t insisted on throwing them away.”
“They were driving everyone mad at work,” she complained.
I rolled my eyes. “Who’s everyone, exactly?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Stephanie and Dan, and Mason, even.”
I snorted. “Okay then.”
“I’m sorry I made you work with him,” she said, for about the thousandth time since we made up.
“It’s fine. You didn’t know.”
“I kind of did,” she started, throwing me a shrug. “I mean it was obvious you two had something going, at least before you left. I thought maybe he might help you to stick around. Since he knows how you are, I mean, were, with jobs.”
It kind of made sense. “It’s fine, Lucy. It worked out.”
“I’m such a liar,” she said suddenly, making me raise an eyebrow.
“Lucy, you’re the most honest person I know.” She could make Snow White look like a manipulative bitch.
“No. I’m not. Because if I’m being totally honest, it was because I was afraid to work with you,” she said, with a slight groan. “I knew I’d get mad if you started...”
“All my usual bullshit?” I filled in when she seemed at a loss for words, feeling a wry smile tugging at the corners of my lips.
She winced. “I’m so sorry I doubted you, Tina.”
“I forgive you,” I said, pulling up a chair as she started to dish out breakfast. “So are you meeting Dawson tonight?”
The cop had been the first person to see her when she woke up. Her parents lived out of town, and hadn’t been contacted at the time yet—my bad—but it meant she ended up with a boyfriend I didn’t hate on sight for a change. He’d told her she might be dead if it hadn’t been for me. I was sure that played some part in her instant forgiveness. However it had happened though, I was glad of the second chance. I’d moved back in with her while the Starlight was shut for a few days. Made sure she followed doctor’s orders. So far, things had been pretty rosy.
“Well, maybe,” she said with a blush.
“You want me to get out of your hair?” I was still tempted by the thought of the night club. Unwinding would be good. I could hide a hangover if I didn’t go totally overboard on the cocktails. Probably.
“You don’t need to,” she said it as if they weren’t going to be all sickeningly loved-up in the middle of the living room for half the night.
My phone buzzed in my pocket as she put a plate in front of me. I checked it and smiled. Piper again, trying to entice me. Clearly, she didn’t think I was serious about staying away from her horn-dog friend.
Jimmy’s coming out later.
I’d spoken to him since he found out about the fire. Used it as an excuse to fob him off. He’d been worried about me. It was kind of nice, but I wasn’t sure about the whole dating him business. It was too full on. The last thing I really needed.
I put my phone back, thinking about it.
“Mason should be back to work next week.” Lucy snapped me out of my thoughts.
I grimaced. “Did you have to mention him?”
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened with you two?” She sounded kind of hurt.
I poked at the food on my plate. It looked amazing, and my stomach grumbled, but talking about Mason was enough to kill my appetite stone dead. I put my fork down.
“He got hurt by that killer.” And that’s my fault, and you’d never understand because you’d think I was an alcoholic, not someone who can kill demons in her sleep.
She frowned. “I still don’t totally understand that part.”
“When we found out you weren’t outside with everyone else, I convinced him we needed to go back inside and find you. If I’d come alone, Mason wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” I tried to keep it sounding as logical as possible.
“Yeah, but maybe you would have gotten hurt instead and maybe neither of us would be sitting here now. It’s not your fault, Tina.” She paused before she spoke again. “You guys knew the killer was inside, right? That’s why he set off the alarm, to get everyone to leave.”
I nodded. “Right. We knew. It was why we had to get back inside to find you. You saw all the reports, Lucy. You were exactly his type.”
I didn’t know how many times we’d talked this over. Something was still seriously bothering Lucy about the whole thing. I could tell, but I wasn’t sure even she knew what that something was, exactly.
She frowned. “He didn’t even try to get me out of the lift.”
“He was probably dealing with the other girl first. He didn’t get the chance to come back up and get you.” It made me uneasy to talk about, because she had a point. I didn’t know why the killer didn’t get to her first, other than he was dealing with the girl he’d already killed and he clearly hadn’t thought Lucy was going anywhere after he knocked her out and left her in the elevator. It made me shivery to even think about it.
She shuddered. “I got so lucky.”
“You really did.” Guilt still nipped at me for the whole mess, but I’d managed not to let it drown me. I’d done the best I could. My friends had gotten hurt, but they were healing. I’d learn from my mistakes. I wouldn’t make the same ones again. I ate a little of my breakfast so it wouldn’t go to waste. Then I got up. “I need to go for a walk.”
Chapter Nineteen
Every Saturday, in the park across the street from the Starlight, Mason takes a walk. I knew, because he invited me every week. I got lucky and was given Saturday as one of my regular days off. So I would meet him, and we’d walk around together in mostly comfortable silence.
He shushed me the first time I ever tried to say sorry, which was the day after he got stabbed. I’d visited him in hospital, full of guilt and blaming myself entirely for dragging him back into the hotel with me. He’d refused to hear any of it. Told me point blank it wasn’t my fault he got hurt, and that was to be the end of that conversation.
He still had pain from the knife-wound, but he got lucky where it went in. It hadn’t punctured any internal organs. He’d lost a lot of blood, but it could have been a whole lot worse.
I spotted him the second I walked onto the entrance path. He never waited for me in the same spot. Had to pace around. Only this time he was near the start of the trail, probably because there were more people around today. The sun was out and it’s taking the blame for the crowds. My jacket had been left at home. His too.
“Hey,” I said, as I caught up to him. “How’s it going?”
He stopped walking, his grimace showing how he felt about the other people we had to step out of the way for. The park was starting to get a lot busier. Coming into May, less rain, more sunshine. Always felt like there were hundreds more people out walking around on this kind of day.
He smiled wryly. “It still hurts like fuck.”
Yeah, and it looked like it too. He had permanent dark circles under his eyes these days. I didn’t think he was sleeping. I didn’t blame him. “Still taking a lot of painkillers?”
“Enough that I can come out for a walk without instantly wanting to keel over and die.”
I felt horrible and it must have showed on my face because he gave me a smile that didn’t seem pained.
“Hey, I’m just kidding around. It’s not that bad.”
“Yeah, okay then.” I could tell he was putting on a front for my sake.
“So what are you up to tonight?” It was out of the blue and I didn’t get the chance to cover up the shock on my face before he saw it and snorted at me. “Come on,
Tina. I’m too messed up to pull anything untoward. I’m only asking if you want to come over and watch a movie.”
I’d already mentally started to prepare to go out to the club tonight so this invitation totally threw me off. I opened my mouth and closed it again. Then I finally pulled myself together.
“Okay. What time?” I wondered how weird it would be to wear the purple cocktail dress. I smiled at the thought of his expression if I showed up at his door in it. Nah, I didn’t want him to pop stitches or something. I should really wait until he’s feeling better to turn up unannounced in the dress.
“You have this look on your face,” he murmured.
I felt my skin flush at his lowered tone. Ah that voice, I could just drown in it. “It’s a perfectly innocent look.”
He laughed and then winced. “Okay. Rule one, no more bullshit. Rule two, no comedy.”
“Until you’re better.”
He gave me a look this time, like a caged animal; predatory and intense. “Once I’m healed up, there’s going to be a whole new set of rules.”
Holy hell. I bit back a gasp as he took my hand and started to walk me over to a quieter spot in the shade. He spun me around and I realised I was backed up against a tree as his right hand reached out to stroke my hair back from my face. His left hand was still holding my right. My skin tingled under his touch. “Hey, I thought you said you shouldn’t have done this the last time.”
He smiled at me, shaking his head. “You were literally just back in town, and you were texting some other guy.”
“How the hell...” I could feel my face pale. I couldn’t even finish the question. He’d asked who Jimmy was before, and I still hadn’t gotten a straight answer on how he knew about him.
He sighed. “One of the ghosts knew how I felt about you. She saw a message you sent and she told me.”
Okay, that made sense and I was relieved to know he hadn’t been snooping around my room on his lunch break. Still... “You know you’re killing the mood, right?”
“I’m not going to ask who he is again. I know he’s no-one.” His gaze bore right through me. “You love me. Right?”
Oh, he was crafty. Getting me all hot and bothered to get me to admit it. Well, I wasn’t going to let those words slip from my lips again until I was sure I was on solid ground. “I already told you that.”
“A lot can change in a few years, Tina.”
“Some things never do.”
He kissed me just as my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I ignored it, telling myself I’d turn it off later. A night in sounded a lot more fun than a night out now. He broke away with a soft sigh, resting his forehead against mine.
“Are you going to answer that?”
The phone. Right. Yeah. The noise was kind of insistent. I took it out of my pocket and turned it off without looking at it. I shoved it back into my pocket without breaking my gaze from his once.
“Damn thing was starting to get annoying.” I knew it was just Piper flooding my inbox. She tended to go a bit text message happy whenever she was bored. It was probably her break at work.
He smiled and for a fleeting second I wondered what I thought I was doing right now. Diving headfirst into something when I didn’t even really know what went wrong the first time. Am I crazy?
His mouth met mine and I realised everything made more sense than it ever did. Mason knew who I was, he knew what I was. He still wanted to be with me. Less than a month back in town and I had pretty much everything I could ever wish for. It felt like strange luck, or fate, maybe, that dealing with a dangerous demon could set off the chain of events that would lead me to this point where my life was better than it ever was before.
Somehow I didn’t think it was going to be simple as leaving it up to fate to keep things this together, but I was going to do everything I could to hold onto this new life. I pulled Mason’s lips back to mine when he started to pull away. I didn’t want this feeling to end. I didn’t want to think about where we’d go from here. I felt him smile and I was the one letting go with a sigh this time.
“What?” There was something, I knew it.
“You don’t hear the kid screaming bloody murder over there?” He nodded to our right.
The second he mentioned it, I winced. How did I not hear that before? “That’s pretty annoying.”
“There’s less noise back at my place.” He watched me carefully.
“I already agreed to come over later.”
“Come over now. I’ll make lunch.”
“I know how much you hate crowds, so I’m saying yes to get us out of here.”
“Okay then, but I know you’re really saying yes because I make amazing sandwiches.”
I laughed at the bad joke. “If you make them like you used to, I’ll be passing on lunch.”
“What are you trying to say?” he asked with a grin.
“I’m saying cold meats and jam don’t go together, ever, and especially not with butter in the mix.”
He laughed now, winced and sighed. “Rules, remember?”
“Okay, I know the current rules and I’m going to do my best to stick to them,” I said, wondering what the new ones were going to be exactly, when he’d recovered.
Guilt flared at the reminder that he’d gotten hurt. He squeezed my hand and made the effort to smile. He moved back and we started to walk out of the park. He didn’t let go of my hand, not once.
“You can let go,” I told him, when we got to his house and he had trouble opening the gate one-handed.
He shook his head at me as he got it to open. “I’m never letting go again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” It was a promise and it sounded like one.
His fingers flexed but he didn’t untangle them from mine. That caged animal was in his gaze again. I swallowed as he grinned and asked, “Promise?”
“I promise.” I knew the second the words were out that I meant them completely.
I was never leaving. Not this town, not my job, not Lucy, and not Mason. This was home. I was finally back, and I’d never run away again.
Tina Saint returns in
Quicksand Nightmares
Read on for the first chapter...
Chapter One
It’s always calm before a storm. You just don’t always know when one is brewing. I should have known. Life had been too easy. Too perfect.
It was another lazy Saturday morning. Mason was still sleeping when I got up and crept out of the room. My plan was to go to the cafe around the corner from his house and bring back breakfast rolls. Considering I had a habit of setting off the smoke detectors whenever I tried to cook, it seemed like the most sensible option.
Looking back, I wish I’d just waited for Mason to wake up. Things could have been so different.
That morning, I didn’t know any better. I was walking around as if the world had a nice, non-demon –related rosy glow. It was bright out, a typical early summer morning where the sun scorched the cloudless sky. Walking in the heat felt so good. I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. Everything was going great. I’d held down a job for two months, I was living with my best friend in the world who no longer had any reason to argue with me, and I was taking full advantage of the honeymoon period with the guy I’d been in love with for years. What could possibly go wrong?
Turned out, pretty much everything, and it all started with the demon I met that morning.
The cafe around the corner wasn’t anything fancy, but it did the job and it wasn’t expensive. My main concern was getting back with the goods while they were still warm. Mason loved it when I went to anything he could consider ‘trouble’ just for him. I liked to joke that I was just buttering him up to keep him sweet. Things usually took some interesting turns from that point in the conversation on. Since he’d been feeling better, for the last couple of weeks, our relationship had gotten a lot more heated. His new rules were a lot less boring than the old ones.
My first clue that something was a
miss should have been the ‘closed’ sign hanging from the door. The lights were on inside and I was already there, so I pushed the door anyway. It opened and I saw there was someone behind the counter. She seemed kind of dishevelled, but I didn’t pay much attention. I went straight to the menu that was taped onto the counter top, pre-occupied with wondering what to get. Mason ate like a pig, and he liked to try everything going. I was considering whether he might be in the mood for haggis or black pudding with his bacon, when I glanced up and my stomach started to churn for reasons entirely unrelated to hunger.
The glint of yellow in her eyes gave me the demon’s type: Sloth. Not usually the most terrifying of demons, but something about the way this woman glowered triggered my internal alarms. Then the big question burned through my head. What had she done to attract the demon?
“What can I get you?” She sounded rough, looked like death warmed over. Exactly the kind of person you’d want cooking your breakfast.
“Um, just a can of Coke.” I’d walk into town and get something from Piper’s cafe. There was no way in hell I was going to eat something this woman prepared. Chances were too good that she’d serve up something entirely inedible. I forced a smile as she narrowed her eyes at me.
She was slow to take my money and she handed over the can with a sneer. Typical behaviour from a Sloth Demon possessed human. Usually it wasn’t what someone like this woman had done, but rather something she’d neglected to do, that triggered a possession. It had to be bad to attract a demon. It had to have resulted in causing purposeful hurt to someone else. Who had she hurt?
I wondered for a few seconds and the options my brain spewed out were terrible. I shook it off. It wouldn’t help to consider this. I’d find out for certain tonight, in the dreamscape. Or sooner, most likely, considering the demon type. She’d probably decide to take a nap while the chip pan was on. It was debatable whether or not there was even any point exorcising her demon, though I doubted I’d get any choice in the matter. I’d seen it now. I’d be dreaming of it. I took the can of Coke and turned to leave.
Sinners Never Sleep (Seven Deadly Demons Book 1) Page 12
